Washington, D.C. — Pro-life leaders and pastors from across the country representing more than 250,000 blacks are gathering in Washington abortion-center-gosnell-3on the first anniversary of the beginning of the trial of Kermit Gosnell, the late-term abortionist that ran a house of horrors in Philadelphia.

The National Black Pro-life Coalition, Protecting Black Life, and the National Black Pro-life Union will be joining the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, a DC based black conservative think tank, to privately meet with Senate staffers to discuss how to move the ball forward to open the legislative hearings that they requested last year.

During the Gosnell trial, on May 8, 2013, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) offered a resolution “Expressing the sense of the Senate that Congress and the States should investigate and correct abusive, unsanitary, and illegal abortion practices.“

“I contacted the Senators that signed onto the resolution put forth by Senator Mike Lee on behalf of the National Black Prolife Coalition because we have proof that women are being maimed, molested and murdered and believe that hearings are essential for the health and safety of those being lured into abortion clinics around the country,” says Star Parker, President of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE).

“We are glad so many on the Senate side responded to attend our private luncheon, and that we will also be meeting with several House staffers to gather information about the results of their inquiries,” said Star Parker.

The House Judiciary Committee sent letters to each Attorney General to determine whether state and local governments are being stymied in their efforts to protect the civil rights of newborns and their mothers by legal or financial obstacles that are within the federal government’s power to address.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to each state health officer requesting that they provide information on how they regulate and monitor abortion clinics to protect the health and safety of women.

“I hope the states responded and reported what I found, because the information I have reveals that what happened with Gosnell is not an anomaly,” said Catherine Davis, co-founder of the National Black Pro-life Coalition. “My research has found dead babies, dead women, scarred babies and scarred women and it is imperative that we know what the Congress found out in their inquiry because victims are mourning alone and there must be redress on a national level.”

“We believe it is time to take stock of where we are as a nation on protecting the health and safety of vulnerable poor women as they enter these abortion chambers, especially in our hard-hit communities,” said Davis.

Six Senate offices will be meeting with the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and its guests at the National Press Club. The meeting will focus on adding penalties to the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002. The author of the act, Dr. Hadley Arkes, will also be in attendance at the meeting.

The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act was signed into law by President Bush after passing unanimously in the Democrat controlled Senate. It outlaws the murder of infants born during late term procedures — what Gosnell was doing. But the law is basically symbolic because it invokes no criminal or civil penalties when violated.